Staffordshire Wildlife Trust

Today I want to tell you more about the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust  …. A great local organisation which provides many different activities throughout the year. Memberships are very reasonably anyway – you can join individually, as a couple or as a family –  but for January they have had a special offer on – half price membership which is fantastic … but January is almost over so if you do want to become a Staffordshire Wildlife Trust Member make sure you do it in the next few days if you want to take advantage of that half price membership!! To find out how to do that go to the website which is staffs-wildlife.org.uk or if you put Staffordshire wildlife trust in your browser it will come up.  As well as signing up details you will find details on their current campaigns, find out how to volunteer with them and book onto an event, plus much more.

They do many different events for children and families throughout the year such as a Wildlings session at Hem Heath Woods on Thursday 5^th February from 10.30 to 12.  Wildlings is an outdoor play group and you can find out more on the Website.

And we are looking at things to do at the moment to keep ourselves occupied, to meet new people and generally do a bit of good in our local area.

So how about this one …. Could you spare some time to help Staffordshire Wildlife trust restore habitat for the beautiful dingy skipper butterfly? They are running sessions at Chatterley Whitfield Heritage Country Park to encourage more bird’s foot trefoil to grow here – the food plant of the dingy skipper caterpillar.

The sessions take place on Tuesday 17 February and Tuesday 17 March and run from 9.30am – 3.30pm, with a one hour lunch break.  Tasks will include cutting and removing woody vegetation to restore to open grassland. To volunteer for this project you will find a link on the website where you can register –  as well as helping the dingy skipper you would be helping your own physical and mental health.

Or why not Get to know your local patch of river as part of the Trent ReNEW project. Learn how to ID flora and fauna around you, see what lives in your local river, and learn about birds that call our local parks home. Thanks to our partners the Environment Agency and Support Staffordshire and to Stoke-on-Trent City Council.

You can book onto a Beginner’s guide Workshop at Sylvester Community Trust Growing Field, Thursday 5 February, 10am – 12.30pm – Or how about Riverfly monitoring at Ford Green Brook, Wednesday 11 February, 10am – 1pm …or Riverfly monitoring at Bucknall Park, Monday 16 February, 10am – 1pm – maybe a walk is more your thing you can join in with a Community river monitoring walk at Staffordshire University, Wednesday 18 February, 10am – 12pm – … alternatively a Winter bird walk at Ford Green Park, Thursday 19 February, 10am – 12pm … you will find details about all of this on the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust website

The events above are fantastic to get out and about an do something important and relevant – if you are you curious about what lives in Ford Green Brook or the river at Bucknall Park – , or even if you not sure but think you maybe, you can help count how many, and which freshwater creatures are living in the brook. No experience is needed – all the equipment will be provided, you just need to wear outdoor clothing and footwear suitable for the weather. Also please feel free to bring a hot drink and snack and something light and portable to sit or kneel on. Also, they do not ask people to stay for the whole session – just do as much as you want to or as much as you can. How long it lasts depends on how many creatures they find. If you have any questions please do email trentvalley@supportstaffordshire.org.uk and mark it to the attention of Tam Harrison who will be able to tell you about buses available to the sites and also about the amenities there

One for next month is a Small mammal Monitoring Walk  at Whitfield Valley Nature Reserve that’s on Thu, 12 Mar, 10am – 12pm – A gentle stroll introducing people to which small mammals are living and where, along the brook. Derek Crawley of the Staffordshire Mammal Group will sharing his expertise at that one

Something to think about – I have told you about quite a few things there – but all will be beneficial for your overall health and well being, will help our local wildlife – details for everything on the Staffordshire wildlife website – and suitable weather related clothing is needed for all.